Reflections (at different times) on ecumenical or interfaith issues, theology, spirituality, ministry, the arts, politics, popular culture, or life in general ... occasionally, just some funny stuff.

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

The Ethiopian Eunuch: a sermon (Acts 8:26-40)

(I'm preaching this sermon alongside my hymn "A travelling man from far-off Ethiopia ...".)When I attended theological seminary, some student folklore was attached to our lesson from the Acts of the Apostles. This was a few years before my time, but the story goes that one student was asked to read this passage in a chapel service. When he read the passage, instead of referring to the Ethiopian as a eunuch, he called the traveller from Africa an “unch” … each of the five times the word eunuch (or “unch”) appeared in the passage. When I was at seminary, some students still referred to this passage as the story of Philip and the “unch”. If I forget myself and refer to the eunuch as an “unch”, please bear with me.

This is an important passage in the New Testament. It is one of a number of occasions in the Acts of the Apostles in which we see the Christian faith crossing the cultural and religious boundaries between Jews and Gentiles. Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch is as important as the encounter between Peter and Cornelius two chapters later. If Peter’s encounter with Cornelius is the first example in Acts of a European gentile responding to the good news of the risen Christ, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch was the first example in Acts of an African gentile responding to the gospel.

But it seems that the fact that the traveller was a eunuch was just as important in the book of Acts as the fact that he was an Ethiopian, possibly even more so. In the passage, he’s called an Ethiopian once, but he’s called a eunuch five times. Commentators say there was great significance - at the time the passage was written - to his being a eunuch. I believe it is still significant for us today.

1. The eunuch had a disability.

The eunuch’s physical condition was a disability. It was a serious disability in the ancient Middle East. Twice in the Old Testament books of Torah - law - we find lists of disabilities that would exclude an individual from serving as a priest in the sanctuary. The two lists were not completely identical but eunuchs were among those excluded by both lists.

Now, this information - on its own - could lead to an inappropriate criticism of the Old Testament law and the Jewish religion. The fact that people with various disabilities were consciously excluded from service as priests meant that they were alive. Other cultures in the ancient world did not let children born with some disabilities live. Among the Jews, the disabled survived to reach adulthood. Here is one more example – one example out of many - of how the Jews pioneered more merciful attitudes in many areas of life.

Philip welcomed the eunuch in Christ’s name. The gospel was extended to the excluded. The Church displayed its essential nature as a deliberately inclusive community.

And what does this mean for the Church today?

As Philip welcomed the eunuch, the Church today needs to welcome people with disabilities.

Now this sounds easier than it often really is. A congregation can feel that it is very welcoming toward people with disabilities. A church can feel it’s made real progress if it:

buys a few large print hymnbooks;

puts a wheelchair ramp at one of the entrances;

installs a handicapped lavatory and puts some handrails in the other lavatories;

maybe even organises a few sign language interpreters for the deaf.

That’s all good, and it’s not so hard.

It’s a bit more challenging, though, for a congregation to be consistently welcoming toward people whose disabilities are somewhat more in-your-face, such as some intellectual or psychiatric disabilities. The congregation may be challenged to exercise its gifts of patience ... repeatedly.

As Philip welcomed the eunuch in Christ’s name, the Christian Church today has the opportunity to welcome people with all disabilities.

2. The eunuch could not father children.

That’s what makes a eunuch a eunuch. They can’t father children. They have no descendants. In a traditional society where family relationships and kinship networks were the key to one’s personal identity, a person with no descendants becomes a person on the fringe of society. In addition to having a profound physical disability, a eunuch was regarded, in many ways, as a non-person.

Philip welcomed the eunuch in Christ’s name. The gospel was extended to the excluded. The Church displayed its essential nature as a deliberately inclusive community.

And what does this mean for the Church today?

As Philip welcomed the eunuch, the Church today needs to welcome people who find themselves outside the structures of traditional family life.

In many ways, it’s significant that we have this passage in front of us on the Sunday a week before Mothers’ Day. Churches have always been very good at giving pastoral support to traditional families: Mum, Dad, two or three children, perhaps a few pets. Churches know how to provide programmes that give good support to such families: Sunday Schools, youth groups, after-school programmes, family worship, and all the rest. Churches are good at this - it’s important that we continue to be good at this – and it’s vital that mainstream churches continue to be good at this, rather than leaving ministry with children, young people, and families to groups on the church’s ultra-conservative fringe.

I believe churches also need to cultivate our ministry with people whose household structures don’t look like traditional families:

single people - whether single by choice or by circumstance,

one-parent families,

childless couples - whether childless by choice or by circumstance,

unmarried couples,

same-gender couples,

blended families in various patterns.

Churches need to become as expert in providing pastoral support for all these different family patterns as we are in providing support for families in the traditional pattern. And that won’t be easy all the time.

As Philip welcomed the eunuch in Christ’s name, the Christian Church today has the opportunity to include in its life people outside the usual structures of family life.

But, even with all the exclusion, being a eunuch often had its compensations, in a way, because,

3. The eunuch in our passage was a senior government official.

This eunuch managed the finances of the Queen of Ethiopia. And this wasn’t all that unusual to find a eunuch in such a role. Often various high-powered jobs in royal courts were reserved for eunuchs. Kings and queens trusted eunuchs to manage their affairs. This was for a number of reasons:

A eunuch would not have been tempted to lead a rebellion against the monarch. The eunuch could not have produced an heir to inherit the kingdom and establish a new dynasty.

A eunuch could be trusted to behave himself around female members of the royal household. He had no choice.

This eunuch was a senior mover and shaker in the Ethiopian court. He moved and shook in significantly different circles from those that the Christian Church was used to operating in its first few years. This may have been an indication that the Church was beginning to mix it with the big boys.

Philip welcomed the eunuch in Christ’s name. The gospel was extended to a member of the decision-making elite. Through it all, the Church still continued to display its inclusiveness.

And what does this mean for the Church today?

As Philip welcomed the eunuch, the Church today needs to enter into dialogue with those in our community who shape public policy.

Ever since the days of the Emperor Constantine, churches historically have tended to go to either of two extremes in their attitudes to the community’s decision-makers.

One extreme is for the Church to give a docile tug to the forelock in the direction of the state, and to feel all warm and fuzzy when the “powers that be” merely acknowledge the Church’s existence.

The other extreme is for the Church to always stand up on a high place, waggling our finger, and denouncing the same “powers that be” in our best prophetic voice, particularly in terms of issues relating to sex or bioethics.

However, neither forelock-tugging nor finger-waggling is terribly viable as an exclusive position.

The Christian Church needs to approach the community’s decision-makers assertively, and with an authentic confidence in the compassionate perspective our faith provides on public issues.

But, the Church also needs to develop a fuller appreciation of the complexities, “grey areas”, and ethical ambiguities often confronting the shapers of public policy.

As Philip welcomed the eunuch in Christ’s name, the Christian Church today has the opportunity to develop relationships with people who shape the life of the broader community.

* * *

After their discussion, Philip baptised the eunuch. We hear that the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing”. We assume he went back to Ethiopia with the message of the gospel. And, to this day, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian Churches in the world, still ministers in Christ’s name to the people of that nation (as well as to Ethiopians living in nations around the world, including Australia).

As the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing”, we can rejoice in the grace of the crucified and risen Christ.

As the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing”, we can also rejoice in the profound task Christ gives us - the task of developing the Church as an inclusive community that seeks to serve all humanity in Christ’s name.

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About Me

I grew up in the United States and have lived in Australia since 1980. I'm a retired (recycled?) minister in the Uniting Church in Australia. At various times, I've been a parish minister, ecumenical staffer, and hospital chaplain. Some of my interests include theology, liturgy, ecumenism, interfaith relations, history, politics, the arts, humour, and Christmas in popular culture. (I did my doctorate on Advent and Christmas as a "season of opportunity" for churches to relate to their communities.)